Multi-dimensional cryptographically secured datastores for managing medical records

Abstract

An example method of managing medical records using multi-dimensional cryptographically-secured datastores comprises: storing digital representations of dental anatomy utilizing a two-dimensional blockchain structure includes: causing, by a computer system, a digital representation of dental anatomy to be stored at an external storage location; appending, to a first data block of an auxiliary blockchain, an identifier of the external storage location; appending, to a current data block of a main blockchain, a reference to a first data block of the auxiliary blockchain; appending, to the current data block of the main blockchain, a data item of the digital representation of dental anatomy; appending, to the current data block of the main blockchain, a reference to a preceding data block of the main blockchain; and broadcasting the current data block of the main blockchain to a plurality of blockchain nodes.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 receiving a plurality of intraoral images of a dental arch of a patient; 
 generating a plurality of three-dimensional (3D) virtual models of the dental arch of the patient based on the plurality of intraoral images, each 3D virtual model of the plurality of 3D virtual models corresponding to a treatment stage of an orthodontic treatment plan; 
 securing the plurality of 3D virtual models using one or more blockchains, wherein securing the plurality of 3D virtual models using the one or more blockchains comprises:
 determining a size of a first data block; 
 determining whether a size of at least one 3D virtual model of the plurality of 3D virtual models exceeds the size of the first data block; 
 causing, by a computer system, the at least one 3D virtual model to be stored at a storage location responsive to determining that the size of the 3D virtual model exceeds the size of the first data block; 
 appending, to a first data block of an auxiliary blockchain, an identifier of the storage location; 
 appending, to a current data block of a main blockchain, a reference to a first data block of the auxiliary blockchain; 
 appending, to the current data block of the main blockchain, a data item of the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch; 
 appending, to the current data block of the main blockchain, a reference to a preceding data block of the main blockchain; and 
 broadcasting the current data block of the main blockchain to a plurality of blockchain nodes; 
 retrieving information for the plurality of 3D virtual models of the orthodontic treatment plan using the one or more blockchains; 
 instructing one or more 3D printing machines to print a plurality of stereolithography (SLA) molds corresponding to the plurality of 3D virtual models; and 
 instructing a thermoforming machine to thermoform a series of aligners over the plurality of SLA molds. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a notification of a second storage location for storing the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch; 
 appending, to a second data block of the auxiliary blockchain, an identifier of the storage location; 
 appending, to the second data block of the auxiliary blockchain, a reference to the first data block of the auxiliary blockchain; and 
 broadcasting the second data block of the auxiliary blockchain to the plurality of blockchain nodes. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the reference to the preceding data block of the main blockchain comprises a hash of the preceding data block. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 encrypting the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch using a secret cryptographic key; and 
 causing the at least one encrypted 3D virtual model of the dental arch to be stored at the storage location. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 appending the secret cryptographic key to the current data block of the main blockchain. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a digital representation of dental anatomy request specifying an identifier of the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch; 
 retrieving the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch from the storage location; and 
 causing the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch to be displayed by a client computing device that has initiated the digital representation of dental anatomy request. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data item of the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch comprises a patient identifier and a medical event date. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch includes one or more of textual content and multimedia content. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein retrieving the information for the at least one 3D virtual model comprises:
 receiving, by a second computer system, a request specifying an identifier associated with the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch; 
 identifying, based on an index of identifiers of data blocks of the main blockchain, a data block storing the data item of the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch, wherein the data item of the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch is identified by the identifier associated with the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch; 
 identifying the first data block of the auxiliary blockchain, wherein the first data block is referenced by the data block of the main blockchain; and 
 responsive to determining that the first data block is a terminal block of the auxiliary blockchain, retrieving the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch from the storage location referenced by the first data block of the auxiliary blockchain. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the identifier associated with the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch comprises a patient identifier and a medical event date. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 9 , wherein identifying the data block comprises traversing a plurality of data blocks of the main blockchain in a chronological order. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 causing the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch to be displayed by a client computing device that has initiated the request. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 responsive to determining that the first data block is not the terminal block of the auxiliary blockchain, identifying a second data block of the auxiliary blockchain, wherein the second data block is referenced by the first data block of the auxiliary blockchain; and 
 responsive to determining that the second data block is the terminal block of the auxiliary blockchain, retrieving the at least one 3D virtual model of the dental arch from the storage location referenced by the second data block of the auxiliary blockchain. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 updating an index of identifiers of data blocks of the main blockchain, wherein each entry of the index maps, for a specified patient, a visit date to a corresponding block identifier of the main blockchain.